Improved combination of bureau and trunk



UNITED STATES 'PATENT Genion.

A. v. RYDER, or New YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEDY COMBINATIION OF BUREAU AND TRUNK.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,679, dated August 25, 1863.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, A. V. RYDER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new andlmproved Combination of a Bureau and Trunk; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a detached plan or top view of the bureau; Fig. 2, a vertical section of the Whole device in a closed state, .fr x, Fig. 3, indicating the line of section; Fig. 3, a vertical section of the device in an open state, y y, Fig. 2, indicating the line ot' section.

Similar letters oi' reference indicate corresponding parts in the several ligures.

The object of this invention is to combine a bureau and a trunk in such a manner that the bureau, when not required for use, may be inclosed within the trunk, and the former, when required for use, be capable of being elevated and sustained by the trunk so as to answer the same purpose as an ordinary bureau, while the trunk itself may be made available as a receptacle for clothing or otherv articles.

The invention is designed as a convenience for the traveling community, serving as a trunk in traveling for the safe conveyance of clothing, and serving as a bureau while stopping at a hotel or while on board of a vessel.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, l will proceed to describe it.

A represents a trunk, of quadrilateral or other proper form, and provided with a lid, c, as usual. This trunk may be ot any suitable dimensions, and constructed of any desired material. It is provided with a lock, b, for the lid a, and it has a door, B, inits port side, hung upon hinges, which door is also provided with a lock.

C represents a bureau, which corresponds in form to the trunk A, and is of such dimensions that it may be fitted snugly within the trunk, the upper surface of the former being oua level with the upper edge ot' the latter, and admitting oi' the lid a of the trunk fitting snugly over it. The bureau (l is provided with drawers c, arranged in the usual or any proper way, and at its top it is provided with a folding mirror, D, which, when not in use,

and the bureauis inclosed within the trunk, is folded down in a recess, d, in the top ofthe bureau, asshown in Fig. l, and when desired for use is elevated or raised to an inclined position, as shown in red in Fig. 3. This mirror may be arranged. in the same way as those now ordinarily constructed and placed in boxes. At the two ends of the bureau at its lower part there are secure segmental catches, E, which work on pivots e, and have each a spring, f, bearing against them, the springs havinga tendency to keep the outerI ends ot' the catches forced out beyond the front and back of the bureau, as shown clearlyin Fig. 3. To the inner ends of these segmental catches, cords or chains g are attached, which pass upward in grooves h at the inner sides of the ends of the bureau, and are attached to wire loops F, under which the fingers ator may catch, and, by raising the loops, draw inward the catches. To the top ot' the bureau at each side there is attached a handle, G, such as are commonly termed flush-handles,77 and admit, when not in use, of being turned down so as to iit in grooves and be iush with the top surface of the bureau.v To the bottom of the bureau there is suspended by tapes i a shelf, H. (See Fig. 3.) When the bureau is inclosed within the trunk, the former rests upon the shelf, the latter being at the bottom ofthe trunk. When the bureau is to be used, the lid a of the tru nk is unlocked and thrown backward, and the operator grasps the handles G Gand raises the bureau to the top of the trunk, the springs f throwing the segmental catches E over the top edges of the trunk as soon as the catches pass above the back and front of the former. These catches, it will be seen, support the bureau on the trunk, and when the bureau is thus elevated and exposed, the shelf H is suspended within the trunk, and is rendered accessible by means ofthe door B. In order to inclose the bureau within the trunk the operator grasps the handles G G and slightly raises the bureau, so as to relieve the catches E of its weight, and then by inserting a iinger in each loop F draws the latter upward, so that the catches will be drawn within the bureau and thelatter allowed to descend. The Whole arrangement is extremely simple, may be constructed at a reasonable cost, and will prove a great convenof the operience in those cases Where a bureau is desirable in an apartment,-and the latter not supplied with one of the ordinary kind.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire t0 secure by Letters Patent, is-

A trunk and bureau, combined and arranged With catches, substantially as showrnso that when the bureau is elevated or raised from the trunk the former will be supported on the latter by the automatic action ofthe catches, and the catches be capable of being drawn in or freed from the trunk as the bureau is grasped to be loweredv into the former,'as herein described.

A. V. RYDER.

Witnesses:

THos. S. J. DOUGLAS, GEO. W. REED. 

